4 Amish children killed as buggy flips in creek

Posted: Saturday, February 26, 2011

By Bruce Schreinerand Kristin M. Hall

MAYFIELD, Ky. - A horse-drawn buggy carrying an Amish family home from dinner toppled in a rain-swollen creek in rural Kentucky, killing four children who were swept away in the swift-moving water, authorities said Friday.

The group was traveling in a downpour in the dark Thursday about 8:30 p.m. when the buggy flipped just a mile from their house. The buggy was crossing a creek that is normally a trickle, but often floods during heavy rains.

Those killed were a 5-month-old; a 5-year-old; a 7-year-old and an 11-year-old girl. Three of the children were siblings and one was a cousin. Their names have not been released.

Two adults and three other children escaped. The horse that was pulling the buggy also survived.

The father of the 11-year-old girl killed told The Associated Press the family had traveled a few miles to his house despite rainy weather to use an Amish community phone. Afterward, the families shared supper before Emanuel Wagler, 29, and his family started for home.

The two brothers call their father in Missouri every couple of months.

Samuel Wagler's daughter, Elizabeth, planned to spend the night with her cousins and joined them for the ride home to his brother's farm, he said.

Graves County Sheriff Dewayne Redmon, who had headed up the search effort after the crash, told reporters he had not interviewed family members.

"We're trying to give the family some time by themselves right now to grieve," Redmon said. "There's no doubt that this was just a terrible accident."

The family was out during severe thunderstorms that had already dropped 2 inches of rain on the area and 2 more inches were expected, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood warning for the county, said meteorologist Rachel Trevino.

The warning had gone out about an hour before the buggy overturned, after storms had already dropped heavy rain, she said, and more was coming. Trevino said it was possible the family, which likely eschewed electricity and other modern conveniences, had not heard about it.

"It's a very unfortunate. It's very sad. Very, very sad," Trevino said.

The uncle of the 11-year-old girl went to help search after the buggy flipped, and the creek was flowing with waist-high water.

"She was just an all-around good girl," a shaken Levi Yoder, 30, said of his niece.

Three bodies were discovered shortly after midnight, with search teams using floodlights and four-wheelers to comb the area. Several hours later, there was still a glimmer of hope the 11-year-old girl could be found alive, clinging to a tree or rock through the night, but her body was discovered about 9:45 a.m. Friday.